Fly and Die

An airline worker inspecting a passenger's bag Jacksonville International Airport on Friday was accidentally injected with an antidote to chemical weapons. The Delta Air Lines employee, who was not identified, was injected with atropine, an antibiotic that helps people survive chemical attacks...

...and bee stings. My sister has an intense allergy to bee stings, she has to carry an atropine injector kit in her purse everywhere she goes. If she gets stung, she has to inject atropine immediately, or she will die. Now the airline will deny her the right to carry atropine injectors on a flight. Sure, she won't get stung during a flight, but she could get stung after arrival. This is sickening. I suppose they won't let diabetics carry insulin and syringes either.

3 Comments

You are correct, these are "auto-ject" devices with a sealed tube and a capped end over the needle. The security guard would have to open it up and uncap the needle to inject themselves "accidentally."

Atropine is neither an antibiotic, nor is it used for bee stings. Atropine is a competitive inhibitor of aceytlcholine, it has no anti-microbial properties. Epinephrine is used after bee stings. It too however comes in self injectable syringes known as "Epi-pens."